New Massachusetts commission to review state's transportation needs

Massachusetts officials plan to create a new commission to review the state's transportation needs, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said Wednesday.

Polito said the commission will be created by executive order sometime in the coming weeks to "review, analyze and reform state transportation and capital needs."

Polito said the commission will also look at how existing revenue sources will be affected by technological changes.

Asked whether the administration will be open to coming up with new revenue for transportation, Polito said, "That's something the commission will need to study."

But she noted that a new report by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation found that despite the state spending more money for transportation than anticipated over the past decade, the money was not spent where it was needed for capital improvements, and there are still major problems with transportation infrastructure.

"We shouldn't repeat the mistakes of the past," Polito said. "But we should think short-term how to continue to modernize, update, upgrade and fix the system - transit, rail, buses, roads, bridges - so that it works for the people who live here, work here and want to be here."

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation report also found that factors such as climate change, ride-sharing services, electric vehicles and self-driving cars will affect state revenues.

For example, if fewer people buy cars, Massachusetts will get less money from registration fees. More fuel-efficient cars means the state will lose gas tax money.

Polito said the commission will be involved in thinking long-term about "the impacts that technology, autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles and climate change will have on our long-term strategies."

Polito made the announcement at a forum on transportation sponsored by the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. She said she hopes advocates will provide the administration with input on how to form the commission and craft its charge.

The announcement of the commission comes a day after the state Senate released the results of a survey of 700 residents, most of whom had attended Senate-sponsored forums about transportation. That survey found widespread dissatisfaction with the transportation system but also that people were willing to pay higher taxes to pay for it.

Sen. Tom McGee, D-Lynn, co-chairman of the Legislature's Transportation Committee, estimated that the state needs an additional $1 billion a year beyond what it is already spending to keep the state's transportation system - including roads and public transit - in good repair. But administration officials have said they want to reform the current system before adding in additional money.

"I do not think we have a short-term problem with the amount of revenue we need to make capital investments," Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said Wednesday.